Gerard Hutch (born 11 April 1963) is an Irish criminal. He was the prime suspect for two of the biggest armed robberies in Irish history.[1][2] Known for leading a "disciplined, ascetic lifestyle" since leaving prison in 1985, he was nicknamed "The Monk" by investigative journalist Veronica Guerin.[3][4][5] Hutch is also the leader of the organized crime group the Hutch Gang, and was charged but acquitted of the murder of David Byrne.

Robberies

Born in central Dublin on 11 April 1963,[6] his criminal career began at the age of 10.[3] At some point in the 1970s, Hutch joined the Bugsy Malone Gang of inner city youngsters (named for the Bugsy Malone film), which he later led, and whose crimes included "jump-overs" - jumping over bank counters, grabbing cash and running.[3]

He was later part of a gang involved in major robberies and received many convictions between 1970 and 1983 intermittently spending time in prison.[7] His gang was said to have amassed an estimated IR£40 million from a series of bank robberies, jewellery heists, and fraud scams spanning almost eight years.

Hutch admitted to being a "convicted criminal" in a 2008 interview with The Independent, but insisted that he made his money through property deals, not crime.[8][9]

Murder charges

In April 2021, he became the subject of a European Arrest Warrant as Gardaí said they had enough evidence to charge him with murder in connection with the shooting of David Byrne.[10] The EAW was issued after the Director for Public Prosecutions moved that he be charged with murder and tried before the Special Criminal Court.[10] He is also likely to face other charges, such as attempted murder and possession of firearms.[10] An investigation file was submitted by Garda detectives based in Ballymun to the DPP late in 2020. He was arrested in Spain in August 2021.[11]

Extradition and charge

On 29 September 2021 he was extradited to Ireland, flown in a military CASA 235 from Madrid to Casement Aerodrome by the Irish Defence Forces.[12] He was then taken to the Criminal Courts of Justice under armed Garda escort where he was charged with the murder of David Byrne before the Special Criminal Court.[12] He was remanded in custody until 15 October at 10:30am.[12] Other co-accused are to stand trial on 3 October 2022 and the state solicitor asked that he come in on that date, to which the three judges agreed.[12]

Both Hutch and Jonathan Dowdall, who is also charged with the murder, claimed in judicial review before the High Court that trial before the Special Criminal Court would be unlawful and a breach of their fundamental rights because the court was acting as a permanent institution after being established on a temporary basis.[13] These were dismissed by Mr Anthony Barr, who ruled that the legislation was neither temporary nor had any temporal limit.[13] Both Hutch and Dowdall sought leave to appeal the High Court decision to the Supreme Court.[13] On 5 May 2022 a panel reserved judgement in both cases.[13] After a request from counsel for the Attorney General, the case was adjourned until 1 July 2022, pending the Supreme Court decision.[13]

The trial began in October 2022.[14]

On 17 April 2023, Hutch was found not guilty.[15]

On 21 April 2023, an investigator with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission resigned after allegations the officer had attended the same party as Hutch on the 19 April.[16][17]

In 1999, in the course of court proceedings brought against Hutch by the Irish state's anti-money laundering agency, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), Detective Chief Superintendent Felix McKenna stated that Hutch had been involved in the IR£1.7 million robbery of an armoured van at Marino Mart in January 1987 and the £3 million armed robbery of a Brinks Allied Security Depot in Clonshaugh, County Dublin, in 1995, which had been the largest cash robbery in the State at the time.[3][18]

Hutch eventually reached an £1.2m settlement with the CAB to "cover back taxes and interest for a nine-year period".[3][19]

Hutch has also been awarded money from legal actions in Irish courts. These included £8,500 won from Securicor Ireland in June 1991, £2,000 from the Sunday Tribune newspaper in a libel action and around £26,000 won in legal actions against the Irish state.[3]

In 2014, Hutch's Wikipedia article was one of the first pages requested for removal under the European Union's Right to be Forgotten Act. This required search engines, such as Google, to remove links to the Wikipedia article from their search results. The Wikimedia Foundation does not know who requested this removal.[20] Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales described the act as "deeply immoral".[21]

Film and television

Hutch is depicted in the film Veronica Guerin, played by Alan Devine.[22] It is based on the life of the late Irish journalist Veronica Guerin who had interviewed him.[2]

Hutch appeared on RTÉ's Prime Time programme in March 2008 where he was interviewed about his life and criminal career. Hutch denied any criminal activity, since his last prison sentence, other than tax evasion.[8]

Hutch was the subject of investigation in the Irish TV3 channel's television series, Dirty Money.[8] Episode 5, which aired March 2008 was solely devoted to the assets seized by the CAB from Hutch[23] and the threat to seize assets from his family.[24]

Family and personal life

Gerry Hutch is the leader of the Hutch Gang, an organized crime group that includes members of his family. He is an uncle of Gary Hutch, who was shot dead in September 2015 near Marbella, Andalusia, Spain.[25] His brother Eddie Hutch Snr. was shot dead in North Strand Dublin in February 2016.[25] These killings are part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud between Hutch and the rival Kinahan family.

In 1998 he was a founding member of the Corinthians Boxing Club in Dublin and has served as treasurer for the club. The club has a full gym and a boxing ring. The latter was donated by film director Jim Sheridan after making the film The Boxer.[3]

After the CAB settlement in 1999, Hutch applied for and was granted a taxi licence,[26][27] and set up the limousine service Carry Any Body. The name is a humorous reference to the Criminal Assets Bureau.[28][29] He has featured in the Irish media as he has driven celebrities[28] including Mike Tyson[30] on their visits to Ireland.

References

  1. ↑ Martin Breheny (1 July 2000). "Hitting them where it hurts". Independent. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 Paul Williams (2011). Badfellas. Penguin. pp. 243–45. ISBN 9780141970295. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Keane, Conor (1 April 2000). "Hutch to Clear Outstanding Liabilities in a £1.2m Deal with the State". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 27 February 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Henry McDonald (7 February 2016). "Murders in Spain, and a Dublin attack with AK-47s: the deadly 20-year war of Ireland's drug cartels". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Vikram Dodd (7 December 2000). "Journalist 'was killed to save drugs empire'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "Gerry Hutch at 60: The Monk's rise through the criminal underworld and how his retirement plans fell to pieces". www.independent.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Williams, Paul (27 October 2011). Badfellas. Penguin Books. pp. 243–. ISBN 9780141970295. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Kelly, Flach (13 March 2008). "I got rich from property not crime, claims The Monk". The Independent. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Paul Williams (2012). "The Monk". Gangland: The Shocking Exposé of the Criminal Underworld. The O'Brien Press. ISBN 9781847175229. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Williams, Paul (20 April 2021). "European hunt for Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch as arrest warrant issued over Regency Hotel attack". Irish Independent. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  11. ↑ Reynolds, Paul (12 August 2021). "Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch arrested in Spain". RTÉ News.
  12. 1 2 3 4 O'Riordan, Alison (29 September 2021). "Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch charged with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Doyle, Peter (6 May 2022). "Ex-Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall bids to halt his trial for Regency Hotel murder". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  14. ↑ MacNamee, Garreth (3 October 2022). "Murder trial of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch to begin at Special Criminal Court today". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  15. ↑ Reynolds, Paul (17 April 2023). "Gerard Hutch found not guilty of murder of David Byrne". RTÉ News.
  16. ↑ Dalton, Eoghan (22 April 2023). "GSOC officer resigns over 'potential conflict of interest' after allegedly attending Gerard Hutch party". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  17. ↑ Gallagher, Conor; Lally, Conor (21 April 2023). "Gsoc officer resigns amid allegations he was at party which Gerard Hutch attended on Monday". Irish Times. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  18. ↑ "CAB wins £2m judgement against "the Monk"". RTÉ News. 14 May 1999.
  19. ↑ Lally, Conor (8 December 2012). "A Crime Boss Who Changed with the Times". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  20. ↑ Newstalk. "Request made to remove Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch from EU search results". Newstalk. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  21. ↑ "Wikipedia founder: EU's Right to be Forgotten is 'deeply immoral'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  22. ↑ Elley, Derek (31 July 2003). "Veronica Guerin. (movie review)". Daily Variety. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Watch Dirty Money S1E5 Online - The CAB operation against bank robber Gerry Hutch - TV Shows - SideReel". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  24. ↑ "Monk paid up to stop CAB questioning wife - Independent.ie". Independent.ie. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  25. 1 2 Lally, Conor (9 February 2016). "Who are the Hutches? A profile of the Dublin family". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  26. ↑ "Irish taxi industry website quoting Irish Times, 6th June 2001".
  27. ↑ O'Brien, Carl (9 January 2004). "Taxi-drivers convicted of rape, murder to be denied licences". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  28. 1 2 Mallon, Ian (20 April 2009). "Credit crunch forces Monk to sell luxury limo". Evening Herald. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  29. ↑ "Huge, heavy and it's here... the Hummer hits Wicklow". The Irish Times. 30 November 2005. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  30. ↑ "Showbiz Ireland, 28th March 2006".
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